Spotlighting on outcomes.

Soft Touch's Spotlighting grant enabled us to develop a trial app to evidence and report on the music outcomes from our music mentoring and elevated risk projects.

We worked with Threshold Studios to develop an iPad app and then trialled it with the young people who came to our projects. The rationale was to find a way to gather authentic and robust feedback from young people who do not respond well to more formal ways of capturing outcomes data. The first step was to run workshops and brainstorms with young people about the questions we needed to be asking and the format/design of the app. This enabled us to come up with an interactive tool which young people can use to tell us how they are getting on with developing music and other skills. We also collected information about the music settings, such as studio sessions at Soft Touch and outreach sessions, eg at Travellers’ sites, youth clubs, community centres and on the streets.

The results of the outcomes data gathered using the app can be seen on our website. We are very keen to hear what other organisations and practitioners think about the trial app and if any of you would be interested in using it yourselves, so please have a look and leave us a post http://www.soft-touch.org.uk/2015/02/25/spotlight-on-music-outcomes/